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Fujiwara, Gebrselassie, Kawauchi, Mathathi Headline Fukuoka International Marathon Field

http://www.chunichi.co.jp/s/chuspo/article/2012110801001672.html
http://mainichi.jp/sports/news/20121109k0000m050013000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Nov. 8 the organizers of the Dec. 2 Fukuoka International Marathon announced the elite field for this year's Moscow World Championships selection race edition.  The domestic field of four consists of London Olympian Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) and 2011 Daegu World Championships team members Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei), Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) and Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota).  Eleven athletes from seven countries including former world record holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) and, in his marathon debut, 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), make up the international field.

Japanese men must run 2:07:59 or better to qualify for the World Championships team.  Speaking at the press conference announcing the field, Federation executive Toshio Kiuchi commented, "It would be great to see a Japanese athlete break the finish tape," expressing the hope that Fukuoka will see its first Japanese winner in eight years.

2012 Fukuoka International Marathon Elite Field
Fukuoka, 12/2/12

 Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) - 2:03:59
Dmytro Baranovskyy (Ukraine) - 2:07:15
Isaac Macharia (Kenya) - 2:07:16
Henryk Szost (Poland) - 2:07:39
Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) - 2:07:48
Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) - 2:08:37
James Mwangi (Kenya/Team NTN) - 2:08:38
Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) - 2:09:03
Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Logistics) - 2:09:10
Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:09:25
Harun Njoroge (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 2:09:38
Frank de Almeida (Brazil) - 2:12:03
Cuthbert Nyasango (Zimbabwe) - 2:12:08
Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - debut - 58:56 half marathon
Mohamed Trafeh (U.S.A.) - 1:00:39 half marathon

General Division - others expected from cancelled ING New York City Marathon
Andrew Lemoncello (GBR) - 2:13:40
Yusei Nakao (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:14:43
Simon Bairu (Canada) - 2:19:52

Pacers
Reid Coolsaet (Canada)
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